Dr. Peter Paul Rubens
@peterpaulrubens.bsky.social
All-around genius working for peace, beauty, and intelligent thought.
IRL: professor of art history. Occasionally write things about Rubens. Also Dutch art, the Bruegel family, and Elizabethan visual culture.
Reader of many novels. DC & Amsterdam.
IRL: professor of art history. Occasionally write things about Rubens. Also Dutch art, the Bruegel family, and Elizabethan visual culture.
Reader of many novels. DC & Amsterdam.
2/2 We're in for a healthy day with Jan van Kessel the Younger. Loved his veggies! No dead game for this painter, and today is his day.
November 23, 2025 at 12:49 PM
2/2 We're in for a healthy day with Jan van Kessel the Younger. Loved his veggies! No dead game for this painter, and today is his day.
Born OTD in 1654, in Antwerp, Jan van Kessel the Younger. Like his father, a painter of bugs, beasts, & other naturalia. Occasionally humans too. Here, butterflies, shells, etc in 1680.
November 23, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Born OTD in 1654, in Antwerp, Jan van Kessel the Younger. Like his father, a painter of bugs, beasts, & other naturalia. Occasionally humans too. Here, butterflies, shells, etc in 1680.
Teaser: whose fat cat?
November 23, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Teaser: whose fat cat?
Willem van den Kerckhoven, his wife, their many children, and their several dogs in 1652. Plus horse arriving late for the picture. By Jan Mijtens, whose day has been today.
November 23, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Willem van den Kerckhoven, his wife, their many children, and their several dogs in 1652. Plus horse arriving late for the picture. By Jan Mijtens, whose day has been today.
2/2 Two more beauties from the 1660s (one of them armed!) by Jan Mytens.
November 22, 2025 at 10:47 PM
2/2 Two more beauties from the 1660s (one of them armed!) by Jan Mytens.
Beautiful portrait of a girl picking grapes, painted by Jan Mytens of The Hague, whose day is today.
November 22, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Beautiful portrait of a girl picking grapes, painted by Jan Mytens of The Hague, whose day is today.
2/2 Maria's page looking extremely askance at her improbable hunting gear. But she meant well!
November 22, 2025 at 9:57 PM
2/2 Maria's page looking extremely askance at her improbable hunting gear. But she meant well!
Maria of Orange, making so many dreadful fashion errors in assembling her hunting gear, 1665. Hunting! The mind boggles. By Jan Mijtens, whose day is also today.
November 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Maria of Orange, making so many dreadful fashion errors in assembling her hunting gear, 1665. Hunting! The mind boggles. By Jan Mijtens, whose day is also today.
2/2 Feathers. More important than the crown, in 1633. Charles I, making a fashion statement for Daniel Mytens, whose day is today.
November 22, 2025 at 8:24 PM
2/2 Feathers. More important than the crown, in 1633. Charles I, making a fashion statement for Daniel Mytens, whose day is today.
Charles I in 1631. Just an ordinary super-well-dressed guy! As in this portrait by Daniel Mytens.
November 22, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Charles I in 1631. Just an ordinary super-well-dressed guy! As in this portrait by Daniel Mytens.
2/2 James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, always a man with fine fashion sense, looking discreetly excellent in grey in 1629. Painted by Daniel Mytens.
November 22, 2025 at 7:02 PM
2/2 James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, always a man with fine fashion sense, looking discreetly excellent in grey in 1629. Painted by Daniel Mytens.
James Hamilton, Earl of Arran & later Duke of Hamilton, aged 17 in 1623. Be sure to check out his A+ red hose! Painted by Daniel Mytens, whose day is today.
November 22, 2025 at 6:29 PM
James Hamilton, Earl of Arran & later Duke of Hamilton, aged 17 in 1623. Be sure to check out his A+ red hose! Painted by Daniel Mytens, whose day is today.
2/2 Avid traveler & all-around shopper Alethea Talbot, wife of Earl of Arundel, at their London home w/ paintings gallery. By Daniel Mytens.
November 22, 2025 at 6:16 PM
2/2 Avid traveler & all-around shopper Alethea Talbot, wife of Earl of Arundel, at their London home w/ paintings gallery. By Daniel Mytens.
Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, giving a little art history lesson in his magnificent sculpture gallery in 1618. Portrait by Daniel Mytens, whose day is today.
November 22, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, giving a little art history lesson in his magnificent sculpture gallery in 1618. Portrait by Daniel Mytens, whose day is today.
2/2 The Queen's dwarf, Sir Jeffrey Hudson, in the woods but very civilized in 1629. Positioned so his head just fails to reach the horizon, and painted by Daniel Mytens.
November 22, 2025 at 4:05 PM
2/2 The Queen's dwarf, Sir Jeffrey Hudson, in the woods but very civilized in 1629. Positioned so his head just fails to reach the horizon, and painted by Daniel Mytens.
Little Lady Mary Fielding, Countess of Aran, in 1620. Loves her doggie! Both painted by Daniel Mytens, whose day is today.
November 22, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Little Lady Mary Fielding, Countess of Aran, in 1620. Loves her doggie! Both painted by Daniel Mytens, whose day is today.
2/2 Daniel again, drawn in London by fellow expat Anthony van Dyck.
November 22, 2025 at 1:07 PM
2/2 Daniel again, drawn in London by fellow expat Anthony van Dyck.
A Bonus day: TWO birthdayless artists! Daniel Mytens, mostly of London, and his nephew Jan Mytens, mostly of The Hague. Here Handsome Dan's self-portrait from 1630. Historical hottie du jour!
November 22, 2025 at 12:13 PM
A Bonus day: TWO birthdayless artists! Daniel Mytens, mostly of London, and his nephew Jan Mytens, mostly of The Hague. Here Handsome Dan's self-portrait from 1630. Historical hottie du jour!
Teaser: whose dog?
November 22, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Teaser: whose dog?
When you just can't get enough of the gold: polyptych of the enthroned Madonna and saints, 1410, by Lorenzo Monaco. It's been his day today.
November 22, 2025 at 2:07 AM
When you just can't get enough of the gold: polyptych of the enthroned Madonna and saints, 1410, by Lorenzo Monaco. It's been his day today.
Saint Benedict restores a strangely miniature monk to life after he was crushed by a falling wall. From the predella of Lorenzo Monaco's Coronation of the Virgin altarpiece.
November 22, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Saint Benedict restores a strangely miniature monk to life after he was crushed by a falling wall. From the predella of Lorenzo Monaco's Coronation of the Virgin altarpiece.
2/2 Saint Francis, apparently executing a dance performance while receiving stigmata. Painted by Lorenzo Monaco.
November 22, 2025 at 1:13 AM
2/2 Saint Francis, apparently executing a dance performance while receiving stigmata. Painted by Lorenzo Monaco.
Saint Jerome in claustrophobic study taking a moment to commune w/ his very cute lion, entrant in Great Pets of History contest. Painted by Lorenzo Monaco, whose is today.
November 22, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Saint Jerome in claustrophobic study taking a moment to commune w/ his very cute lion, entrant in Great Pets of History contest. Painted by Lorenzo Monaco, whose is today.
2/2 Why do the saints attending the Virgin's coronation seem so extremely ill-tempered?
November 21, 2025 at 10:37 PM
2/2 Why do the saints attending the Virgin's coronation seem so extremely ill-tempered?
The combined splendors of gold and ultramarine: Lorenzo Monaco's extraordinary Coronation of the Virgin for the high altar of Santa Maria degli Angeli, 1414.
November 21, 2025 at 9:51 PM
The combined splendors of gold and ultramarine: Lorenzo Monaco's extraordinary Coronation of the Virgin for the high altar of Santa Maria degli Angeli, 1414.